The First Intercollegiate Baseball Game

The game between Amherst College and Williams College occurred on July 1, 1859, and took place at a neutral field in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Amherst won the game, played with early rules that came to be known as “Boston baseball” or “Massachusetts baseball.”

Thirteen men were in the field at a time, each team was only allowed one out per inning, and there was no such thing as a foul ball. Owing to the lack of gloves, a different (and livelier) baseball and generally poor fielding skills, games of this era often ended with high scores.

The event was actually a double-header of sorts: The schools not only competed in baseball on that day, but also in chess. Amherst was victorious in the battle of the bishops, as well as the bases.

As stated in your BC Sports Blog it is stated that Amherst College and Williams College participated in the first intercollegiate baseball game..Charles Alexander..noted Baseball Historian states through his research in his book
“Our Game,” that Harvard and Yale actually played the first intercollegiate baseball game in Worcester,Massachusetts 3 years after the American Civil War…….as Massachusetts Rules
only applied in New England….and what resembles what we know today as modern baseball were playe by acpted New York Rules….no wonder there is such a rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox…it has actually ben going on since the game first started….